Saturday, June 8, 2013

Weekend self reflection.

After the last MCF AGM, I suggested that it was time to move on and work with the new Committee to bring improvements to Malaysian chess. I believe that there are some Council members that are trying to change our very negative culture and I wanted to give them as much space as possible to bring in positive change. Change doesn't come overnight and it takes time and effort. And change also needs support as well as space.

How would this support look like? I think it will look like this. That positive actions are encouraged and negative ones discouraged. That the projects done by Council members that are building Malaysian chess is supported. That sponsorship is given for the right reasons etc. etc.

Those Council members that have the courage to make a stand needs the encouragement of the chess community or they too will soon puncture and we will go back to the old days or worse.

So from Selangor Open to the National Close I have heard a lot of stories. I have heard complaints and I have heard of positive efforts to improve.

More and more issues have been raised again recently. So maybe it is time for some self examination. Are some of the issues caused by ourselves? Maybe we can learn to bring our points across more clearly and without threats or anger. Maybe we also need to understand that some of the people in MCF needs money to run. Maybe MCF needs to understand that others too need to find funding to support their children in chess; that private organisers outside of MCF also need to survive. Maybe?

Why is this self reflection neccessary? Lets look at this principle from chess. We need to learn how to make big problems smaller and small problems go away. What happens when we make all small problems bigger and bigger till everything explodes? Isn't that how we lose in chess? So will this be how Malaysian chess will be defeated?

Question. Are we not all one? Can there be a strong MCF with a weak chess community? Can there be a strong chess community with a weak MCF?

What are the bigger issues now? Look at Asean. Where are the older Juniors? U18, U20? Common sense will tell us that with their disapperance this will mean there will be no fresh talent to the senior squad who can take Malaysia to the next level. This means we will continue to see senior players going to International Tournaments playing the last board in the final round and then encouraged not to play their best by an MCF Council member. Isn't this an issue that really needs addressing?

So don't we need to bring down the temperature and solve small communication issues so that there is energy to take on the bigger ones like building Malaysian chess?